Wednesday, 12/28

• breakfast: cappuccino, brioche
• lunch 1: tagliatelle with porcini from the market
• lunch 2: mozzerella and prosciutto sandwich, also from the market
• dinner: pasta stuffed with mushrooms; pasta stuffed with cheese; pasta in porcini sauce; cheese ravioli with walnuts; tagliatelle with chicken; amaretto semi-freddo; wine

Yesterday, we got an email from Crystal, who was supposed to meet us in Verona. She had gone to Venice, failed to meet Jian because his plane was late, gotten scared of the her hostel's neighborhood, and returned to Budapest. I sent her an email trying to convince her to come that was almost entirely about food. Joel called her and, without even mentioning food, convinced her to come to Paris. Meanwhile, Jian sent us an email asking for our "contact information" and is now returning to Budapest. Why? Because he never found out where the hostel was. (I'm still not sure whether he expected us to tell him where it was in response to his question about our contact information.)

For about five minutes during the train ride up to Verona, a blizzard engulfed us. We went through a tunnel, came out, and it was sunny again.

The hostel in Verona was actually a hotel on the outskirts of the city. After we dropped our stuff there, we headed back into the center of the town, strolled a bit, and caught the bus back toward our hotel. We weren't sure what our stop looked like, and we got off the bus thinking we had missed it. We walked back for a few minutes before realizing we had no idea where we were; much panicking ensued. Someone in a store explained to me in Italian and in gestures that we had to go straight. He asked if we were walking. When I said yes, he grunted sympathetically and told me it would be a long way. After a brisk walk that at the very least improved our appetites, it was time for dinner.

The restaurant we went to had no menu, so we were mostly at the mercy of our waiter, who got lots of pasta for us. Any one of them alone would have been very good; the ravioli with walnuts would have been excellent. Together, it was a bit much. I do understand now why pasta is usually a first course. The dessert was like tiramisù, but with the mascarpone and coffee replaced by ice cream and amaretto.